“Cabs From Hell” Of NAIA

“Cabs From Hell” Of NAIA

This is the line for metered taxicabs at NAIA Terminal 2. Prior to joining this queue, we had been offered by a guy an “airport taxi.” When we reached their desk, we were quoted a fare of P1,800 to our office on Pioneer Street in Mandaluyong. When we asked how come the rate was so high, the man told us it was because we were paying for a “rental car.” We protested and said: “But you offered an airport TAXI.” He pointed at the long line for the metered taxis, and said we’d have to fall in line if we wanted a taxi.

So we refused and walked away. “Niloloko nyo ang mga tao,” we told him. A woman saw us and tried to win us back. She led us to the same desk. She quoted us a rate of P1,280. WTF. Her colleague had just tried to take P1,800 from us. In a span of less than two minutes, the rate had changed.

Even more funnily, another woman approached us and declared: “Sir, eto final na, P1,050.” We let her know that her two companions had just tried to charge us higher rates. She answered: “Sir, ganun po talaga dahil iba-iba kaming companies.” We told her: “Hindi rin. Magkakasama kayo. Isang kartel din kayo. Parusa kayo sa mga tao.”

Even so, we wanted to take the P1,050 ride because we were really exhausted from the long trip. But then we realized we would be contributing to this wrong system if we did.

So we dragged our luggage all the way to the back of the line for the metered taxis. The metered cabs arrived in trickles (the rental cars, however, were available as you needed one).

Standing in front of us in the line was an American geophysicist based in the Philippines. He lives in Makati, and the same rental-car peeps were charging him P3,200. “You know, I love this country, but you have the worst airport in the world,” he rued. “The last thing arriving passengers want is to get hassled. And they won’t allow Uber here.”

Usually, airports become the first place that foreigners will have an experience to in a country–unless they’ve already read blogs of how fucked up an airport in a given country can be. And this is the problem that NAIA taxis are exposing to the world especially foreigners.

I’ve never gone out of the country to experience how taxis work compared with our unfair ones here in the Philippines. But I have experienced being in the shoe of commuters in NAIA whose only goal is to go home safe and sound. But the taxi drivers and people connected with them who take advantage foreigners and Filipinos alike. Is this the message we would like the world to see? And is this the consolation that we would like our OFWs to experience after indirectly contributing to the growth of our country’s economy?

“Cabs From Hell” Of NAIA

Joemar is the Blogger-In-Chief of BaklaPoAko.Com. He is currently a graduate student in University of the Philippines Open University. He also studied at Maquillage Professionnel School of Makeup Artistry and School of Fashion and the Arts (SoFA). He is a bold advocate of education, environment and LGBT issues. An earner, dreamer and a lover. Before he was once a dream-sprouting seed. Now he's a tree in his renaissance and will always be evergreen. Hear him speak with his intelligent guide for gay news of the Philippines and worldwide, Bakla Po Ako. Confirmed!.Follow him on Twitter @belleza_joemar. Gay it forward!

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Joemar is the Blogger-In-Chief of BaklaPoAko.Com. He is currently a graduate student in University of the Philippines Open University. He also studied at Maquillage Professionnel School of Makeup Artistry and School of Fashion and the Arts (SoFA). He is a bold advocate of education, environment and LGBT issues. An earner, dreamer and a lover. Before he was once a dream-sprouting seed. Now he's a tree in his renaissance and will always be evergreen. Hear him speak with his intelligent guide for gay news of the Philippines and worldwide, Bakla Po Ako. Confirmed!. Follow him on Twitter @belleza_joemar. Gay it forward!